Tuesday, thankfully, passed without much of note. The horror of the previous week was now a week behind him, and that counted for a lot. That week had already changed his life beyond anything he could have comprehended when he'd gotten up that morning a week ago, and he was pretty sure major changes would still be coming. Still, considering everything, Dave decided to hang around the apartment, work on Dithyran's Probe, and avoid turning on the television. And, it worked pretty well; he was in a more down mood than had been the norm the past few days, but not dismally so. Under the circumstances, it was a victory of sorts.

They were just about to sit down to dinner on Tuesday evening when Emily called. "I just thought I'd check in with you guys," she said exuberantly once both Dave and Shae were on the phone, on separate extensions. "Everything's ironed out for the concert."

"Did you get Cold Spring Rain?" Dave asked.

"Sure did," Emily laughed. "I don't know how Dayna twisted their arm, but she did it. And then, to top it off, she managed to get the Michigan Hillbillies for the country music crowd."

Country music was one of the things Dave had not been sorry to leave behind when he left the country, but he couldn't say that to Emily. "Never heard of them," is what he did say.

"They're not a big-name group; they've got a couple albums out, not real well known outside the area," Emily told him. "They're a little more toward the bluegrass end of the spectrum, rather than the Nashville end. They're going to open, Dayna and Sandy will do the middle set, and Cold Spring Rain the finale."

"Sounds like you've been busy," Shae commented.

"Pretty busy," Emily admitted. "To top it off, the football team has agreed to set up chairs on the gym floor and take them down afterwards; that's a big help. Mr. Weber gave us good play in the Courier, and the Reporter up in Hawthorne has been pushing it, along with the radio stations. We just got the tickets this morning, and we've already sold a bunch. Everything's been donated so far, so it looks like it's going to all be clear profit. People are really excited and glad to be doing something."

"Glad to hear it," he told her. "I've deliberately been keeping myself a little insulated from all the coverage."

"I understand," Emily replied. "But, there's one thing I'd like you to do, if you would."

"Sure, what's that?"

"Back when we talked about it last week, you said you'd be willing to send some sort of message to help out. I was thinking maybe something I could read to the crowd at some point."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess I did say something like that, didn't I? Give me a couple days; I'll come up with something. Do you have e-mail there?"

"Oh, yes," she laughed. "Hey, Bradford is all nice and modern now, we even have flush toilets."

"That's not what I meant," he smiled. "I mean, do you have an e-mail address?"

"Sure," she replied. "Emily88@zapmail.com is the one I use for regular stuff."

"Why does that username not surprise me?" he laughed. "It sounds like it'll be a good concert, Emily. Right now, I wish I could be there."

"You'd be welcome if you could come," she said. "But I know you've got other things to confront right now."

They talked for a few more minutes before they hung up and turned to dinner. "She sounds pretty excited about this," Dave commented.

"Of course she's excited," Shae laughed. "She's got something to organize. About all you have to do with her is drop the flag and get out of the way. That's Emily, direct action through and through."

"She's still got a few days to go," Dave laughed. "I'll bet she winds up with the U.S. Marine Corps band or something like that before she's done. It sounds like a pretty good party. It's a shame I can't go."

Shae looked thoughtful for an instant, then smiled, "Well, there's no reason why not."

"I can think of plenty of reasons," he said. "Starting with no airlines."

"They're supposed to be flying by the weekend, although every plane will be jam packed and the whole thing probably pretty messed up," Shae agreed. "But it's not a problem. The odds are we'll knock off shooting early on Friday, we usually try to. We could load up and drive it; it's only about ten hours if we go right through and only make pit stops. Or, we could leave early Saturday morning and still make it in time for the concert. After all, JoAnne, you've got to get home somehow."

"That's a possibility," Dave said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I want to spend that much time in the car with the boys in one weekend, though. They're going to get pretty antsy."

Shae was undaunted. "It'd be a little farther, a couple hours, but we could probably leave the boys with Eve and John."

"Why not just leave them here?" JoAnne commented. "There's no great rush for me to get home, and until you get them in school it's going to restrict your getting around for work, arranging for school, and dealing with getting other things straightened out."

"That's a thought," Dave said. "There's bound to be stuff that needs to be dealt with in the next week or ten days, including working out the move out of Battery Park. I can't even deal with that issue until I have some idea of where we're going to move to. And, I can't really give a final answer on it until I can find out how much job flexibility I'm going to have, so I can face the Bradford-or-here issue."

"From a simplicity standpoint, here is better," Shae pointed out. "And besides, it's been a long time since you've lived in Bradford, even been there. You might get there and find you hate it."

"That's all the more reason for you to go this weekend," JoAnne said. "Maybe it'll give you a hint about whether the change in scenery will do you good or whether it's going to not be worth the trouble. There's no reason you can't stay at the house. The sheets on my bed need to be washed, but I can call Hazel and have her do it."

"Mom, if I move back to Bradford, I don't plan on living at home," Dave protested. "I can't put you out like that. If nothing else, I want to maintain the atmosphere of our own household."

"So, that's not a big problem," JoAnne said. "Maude Perkins' house right across the street has been sitting empty since she died. It's not a big house, but it's in good shape. Her son wants to sell it, and he hasn't been able to. If he rents it, he wants to have someone who won't tear it up or cause problems with a sale. I wouldn't be surprised if waving three or four hundred a month under his nose wouldn't do it, and he'd be happy to get it."

"Three or four hundred?" Dave frowned.

"From what I hear, that's about the going rate," she replied. "Maybe on the low side a little."

"Mom, would you care to guess what Julie and I were paying in Battery Park?"

"More than that, I'm sure," she smiled.

"Try five thousand a month," he shook his head. "That's considered a pretty reasonable rate for a place like that."

"Good grief, how can you afford that?"

"You have to remember, I'm making $90,000 a year, and Julie was making considerably more. Like I said, it's not a bad price for a good address, not much commuting time, and being close to everything. And at that, I can't really afford it now without Julie's income."

"Dave, I don't know if you know Wes Russell; he runs the General plant. The word around the plant is that he makes $75,000. The school superintendent makes a little less, maybe $70,000, but it's got to be about the top pay in Bradford."

"I don't doubt it," he smiled. "I've always known it's more expensive to live here, especially to live as upscale as Julie and I did. But we made enough to afford it." He shook his head and continued. "I admit that the idea of making Manhattan wages on Bradford expenses is attractive on the surface, but there are likely intangible expenses, such as the effect on my career. I don't know what they are and whether I'm willing to pay them."

"The idea of going and taking a look isn't bad," Shae commented. "I wouldn't mind a nice fall day in Bradford, myself, and I could sure stand the break from the city. There's nothing like a road trip to help you sort things out. If we left right after work Friday, we'd get in a little late, but it would give us most of the day to fool around. The alternative is two days of hard driving back to back."

"I wouldn't mind going just to get out of New York for a few hours myself," he agreed. "Mom, if you're willing to stay here, and Shae, if you're willing to go with me, let's tentatively figure on doing it, at least until I can check on a few items to make sure I don't have to be around this weekend."

"What kind of items?" she asked.

"I'm not sure about the move out of Battery Park, when it's going to be possible," he explained. "To top it off, if Dick says no to the idea of going to Bradford, that's that, and we'll have to get cracking on getting the kids into school. Shae, is there anything to keep me from riding into Brooklyn with you tomorrow, and then maybe taking the car in the afternoon if I can get everything done in the morning?"

Like Monday, Shae found Dave sitting in the lobby at the studio as planned when she was done for the day. Unlike Monday, she could tell he was very down in the dumps. "Dave, what's the problem?" she asked as soon as they were heading for the car.

"Same thing," he said listlessly. "I must be getting over it; I actually managed to find my way back here by myself."

"Did you have to wait long?"

"A couple hours, maybe," he shrugged. "I really wasn't paying attention."

"What happened?" she sighed.

"The short answer is things went pretty well at the office," he said. "So I thought I'd take the subway down and see what I could find out on the Battery Park issue."

"I get it," she nodded. "Hell, I don't blame you for being down. I wish the hell you'd waited so I could have gone with you."

"Well, I didn't," he shrugged. "I probably should have, but things went so well at the office I thought I'd get away with it. Guess not, at least not yet."

"So, what did they say at the office?" she asked, seizing on something that sounded upbeat.

"The short answer is they're not real sure how this home office stuff is going to work," he said. "But under the circumstances, Dick and Michelle are willing to give it a try and let it work itself out, although it's off the wall enough they want to run it by Rob, just to be on the safe side. That may not happen until tomorrow, maybe Friday -- he's really having to chase around to arrange stuff. What we talked about is I'd still have to come into the city maybe once a month, a day or two or three. Going to Bradford isn't a done deal yet as far as I'm concerned, but I told Dick if I did I'd have child care issues that would require me to stay there till school gets out next spring."

"Yeah, it's tough to get yanked out of school in the middle of the year and have to make new friends," she nodded. "It happened to me in the third grade. That's how I got friendly with Denis first; his dad and mine were work friends, and it at least gave us someone we knew. I mean, not that it helped Denis in the long run, but it got me off to a better start."

"Yeah, that's an issue, too, but nothing can be done about it," he said glumly as they reached the car.

She took out her remote and unlocked the door as they approached. "So you're saying Bradford is a real possibility?"

"Yeah, I guess," he sighed as he opened the right-side door and got in. "Like I said, it's not a done deal in my own mind, but going down to Battery Park today is making Bradford look pretty good right now."

"Bad, huh?"

"Yeah. Not like the other day, but pretty bad. I never got into the building, which is just as well, I guess. They've got a temporary office until they can re-occupy the buildings themselves."

"Any idea when that's going to be?"

"Occupancy, maybe a month, the girl told me. And that's just a guess, they don't know. They're being pretty straight, rebating the rent for a month and for the time the building can't be occupied. They're also being pretty good about letting people dump their leases."

"There's a lot of that, I suppose."

"That's the impression I got from her," he sighed. "They're cutting the hell out of rates to keep people, too. I told her it was pretty attractive, but there was no way I could manage to live there and stay sane. She said I wasn't the first to say it."

"How about getting your stuff out?"

"Not till they get the power back on so they have elevators and lights," he sighed. "They're guessing the middle of next week. There's some other issues they have to deal with, too. Christ, I don't even know how I'm going to be able to pack stuff up and supervise the movers, other than asking you and Mom to do it."

"I'll do it if it will help, you know that," she shook her head.

"I know you will, and I hate to keep asking this stuff of you. But Shae, I'm damn glad you're willing to put up with me."

By Friday morning, Dave had pretty much recovered from his expedition to Battery Park on Wednesday. Working hard on Dithyran's Probe had done the most good; it got his mind off the knot of the sad, seemingly unsolvable problems he had to solve in the next few days, each one affecting the other, with no clear answer. He and his mother and Shae had talked it around several times, with no real conclusion. He'd pretty well figured out if he couldn't work out a conclusion in another week or so, the boys were going to have to be enrolled in some school, somewhere, even if for a short period. In spite of him or his mother taking them down the street to a nearby park to play at least once a day, they were still around the apartment too much, watching too much TV and seeing little of other kids. Getting them back into school would give them other things to think about, as well.

He was trying to figure out one complicated sorcery scene in Dithyran's Probe and kept getting lost in it; there were things there not clear to him, and it could mean the reader, or at least some of them, could be confused, too. There didn't seem to be an easy fix, a few words that would straighten the whole thing out. Meghan must have been having a bad day when she wrote this, he thought.

His concentration was broken by his mother's voice: "Dave, telephone." For once, he was grateful for the interruption; maybe breaking away from it for a few minutes and coming back would help make some sense of the scene.

It proved to be Rob. "Dave, what are you up to today?" he asked.

"Up to my neck in Dithyran's Probe," Dave reported. "I'm not back on schedule with it yet, but I'm catching up a little."

"Shouldn't be a big deal; we're way behind on everything else," Rob snorted. "But we're showing signs of getting there. Another few days and things should be back under control. Are we still going to be able to make the January list with that doorstopper?"

"Shouldn't be any problem from my end. I'm not far from being done," he replied thoughtfully. "Really, the original copy is a little cleaner than Dithyran's Pride. A few issues, not many, and nothing terribly major."

"Good, that's something going right. Not much else seems to be. It should be a solid seller, given how well the original went. I'm surprised you're even messing with it right now, though."

"It's something constructive and useful to think about, compared to the alternatives," Dave replied. "It's probably been as therapeutic as anything I've done in the last week."

"Glad something's working for you. Dave; what I actually called about was this working-out-of-the-office thing Dick told me about yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't get right back to you, but there's been so much going on needing an answer that very second that it's a relief to have a decision I could sleep on."

"I can imagine," Dave replied, ready for the turndown he expected. "I really wasn't expecting to hear from you today."

"To tell you the truth, it doesn't look like that big a deal to me," Rob told him. "I mean once you make the decision to work over the net out of the office, I can't see how it matters much how far out of the office."

"It's like Michelle said in the meeting the other day, ninety percent can be done that way," he replied, trying to cover up the sheer surprise at his boss' words. "Frankly, Rob, I'll reiterate that it's the other ten percent that worries me, the face-to-face issues, interpersonal communications, conferences, and general politics."

"It's a concern," Rob agreed. "In fact, I agree with you it's a big concern. But it's not just you we're concerned with. We've got about twenty-five people we're going to do this with, not all of them editorial, so we're going to have to learn to do this. We just won't have room available and won't for a while. What's more, we're going to have to learn to do it in such a way that a supervisor doesn't get lazy and call an editor in for a five-minute face-to-face conference that could be done on the phone or e-mail. This notion of yours about being way out of town is forcing us to figure out how we're going to handle that issue. You're not the only one who's looking at way out of the office, either. We've got a couple people way out in the 'burbs. What's more, you know Jean Rothenberger from non-fiction?"

"Not real well, but I know her."

"It turns out she was getting set to quit. She didn't want to, but she has parent-care issues, a mother with early-onset Alzheimer's, and no one to care for her. She and I talked it over this morning, and she thinks this idea is a godsend. She'll be even farther out, like Oklahoma. This way she can keep her income, and we can keep her skills and experience. I wouldn't want to do it with everybody, but it's a can do if we need to. You're thinking about going someplace in Indiana, right?"

"Michigan, but not far from the Indiana line."

"Same difference, it's not exactly Jersey City. Way out of town, in any case. So, are you thinking you're going to go ahead and do it?"

"It's still up in the air, but this puts a real different spin on it," Dave admitted. "My friend and I were planning on driving there this weekend, just to make local contact, see if the idea feels as good on the ground as it does in my head. I have to make a decision pretty soon because of the boys' schooling, anyway, and I appreciate you opening the door for me to consider it."

"Dick said you weren't planning on being out there forever. Is that still right?"

"I still have the concerns about being out of the office but suspect I can fake it for a year or so. My big hope is enough of the pain can heal by then and I can stand to work downtown again. Based on the past few days, I think it can be a fairly productive year, too. I might even be able to get more done than I would here."

"How do you figure that?"

"Have you ever lived in a small town?"

"I've never lived more than half a mile from Central Park," Rob snorted.

"You wouldn't understand, then." Dave smiled. "It gets pretty quiet; there's not many distractions."

"I suppose," he sighed. "Boy, I don't know how you think you can stand it."

"I don't know myself," Dave admitted. "About all I can say is I grew up there, I sort of remember how it works. I've still got family there, friends there, so if this happens, we'll see. I would not be surprised if I was back in the city inside of a year and be just as happy to be here."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Rob grinned. "The city will do that to you."

"One thing," Dave said. "If I do this, and you think it isn't working from your end, all you have to do is say the word and I'm back, at least within a reasonable distance of the office, maybe not on Manhattan. But the boys are changing schools once this year, under the most trying conditions; I don't want to have to do it twice if I can help it."

"That's fine with me," Rob agreed. "You said you should have some idea of how you're going to jump the first of the week, right? Give Dick a call; you'll probably have a ton of details to work out. Whichever you decide, Dave, I hope it's the best choice and it works out for you."

"Well, me too," Dave replied. "And thank you for giving me the opportunity to make this decision."

"You deserve it, Dave," Rob said. "You're one of our best editors, and I want to hang on to your experience and skill, too."

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